They arrested Temer as the alleged perpetrator of a criminal organization

The operation, christened "Radioactivity"investigate "Corruption crimes, embezzlement and money laundering due to possible bribes" done by a contractor "for the criminal organization headed by Michel Temer", the federal public prosecutor said in a press release.

Temer, 78, was arrested in Sao Paulo and will be transferred to Rio de Janeiro, on the order of the judge Marcelo Bretas responsible for this state of operation, Lava Jato, first focused on paying bribes to politicians to obtain contracts from Petrobras.

Bretas issued remand orders against Temer and seven other suspects, including the former Minister of Mines and Energy, Moreira Franco.

The Federal Public Prosecutor (MPF) has stated that the application for preventive detention is due to the suspicion of being "a criminal organization in full activity, involved in concrete events of obvious gravity".

The complaints were made on the basis of confessions from an employer involved in the case, obtained in exchange for a reduction of sentence, said the Office of the Prosecutor.

"After the conclusion of the collaboration agreement awarded to one of the interested parties and the deepening of investigations, a sophisticated criminal scheme has been put in place to pay bribes during recruitment of companies (…) for the execution of the electromechanical engineering project contract 01 of the Angra 3 nuclear power plant ", says the statement.

The amount identified in this case in late 2014 was 1.09 million reals (about $ 500,000 at this year's average change).

But that could be just the tip of the skein, because "investigations indicate that the criminal organization has committed various crimes involving several public bodies and state companies, having obtained the promise, payment or embezzlement for the organization of 1,800 million reales" (approximately $ 470 million at the current rate).